I remember speaking to one of the Orientation Leaders back in September about how quickly time flies at Anderson and I didn't believe her words back then. I just realized that today is the last day of February (!) and I feel as if I just came to school literally yeasterday. But in the meantime, so many things happenned during the first half of the year at Anderson. I will highlight the most memorable things in this post.
- The busiest quarter ever. We had 5 core classes and a specific career related class which helped us in the career-related issues: resume and cover letter drafts, networking 101, company research and so many different things. On top of it, first year students ran for Director positions for different clubs on campus to make the real change and have influence on the process. We bring a lot of changes to school everyday and I was amazed how open the administration is to students' feedback and ideas. Examples include the initiative with The Exchange, which saw life and gets more and more supporters, volunteers and fans every day, and the inclusion of VP of Diversity into the ASA which resulted from Jess Kimball's passion for the community and idea to bring more diversity to UCLA Anderson.
- Lots of career focused events. When I look up my schedule during the fall quarter, I can't believe I had a company presentation almost every day! On top of it, every professional club had its specific Career Night for the members to attend and network with companies' representatives. Before the winter break more than 100 Anderson students went on a tech trek to the Bay Area to visit companies, explore internship and full-time opportunities and to network. After the break we went on another trek to Seattle to visit Amazon and Microsoft and network with Anderson alums there! And even before the winter quarter started HTBA (High Tech Business Association) organized a trip to CES in Las Vegas for students to grasp new technology trends and be able to speak about them during interviews.
- Tons of social events and opportunities. Anderson has weekly activities such as Lit Club - a Wednesday mixer where we make fun of each other like in a stand-up show with funny pictures from our school life. We also volunteer together to take part in the C4C Stanford weekend in April where nine West coast business schools in the MBA Challenge for Charity organization competes annually for the coveted Golden Briefcase. The competition is comprised of fundraising, volunteerism, and the annual Sports Weekend hosted at Stanford University each April. UCLA Anderson Ski Trip during the winter break is one of the major events during the school year with more than 200 students going out to Colorado to ski and have fun together.
- Thanksgiving Dinner at the Dean's house. It is already a tradition that Dean Olian invites around 40 students to her house for the Thanksgiving dinner each year and I was very lucky to attend. In the invitation letter Dean Olian told us that she invites those who are far away from their families to celebrate this holiday together. We had an opportunity to have personal conversation with the Dean and her husband, bond with other students and learn more about the tradition of Thanksgiving and the holiday. It was one of the brightest memories from the busy fall quarter for me.
Next time I will tell you more about what's going on at school. Stay tuned!
Alena Kostenkova'15
